UNLOCKING WEBSITE SUCCESS: THE POWER OF HOTJAR FOR COMPREHENSIVE USABILITY ANALYSIS

 

UNLOCKING WEBSITE SUCCESS: THE POWER OF HOTJAR FOR COMPREHENSIVE USABILITY ANALYSIS

When we talk about website analytics, we most often mention tools like Google Analytics. This tool rightfully holds the top position, as it most comprehensively meets the needs of web analysts. With just a few clicks, we can find out how much traffic we received in the last month, the cost of conversion, the average cost per click, user actions on the site, and much more—all absolutely free.

TOP-5 SERVICES 2024 FOR WEB ANALYTICS

But why do website owners stop at Google Analytics and don’t go further? Currently, there are many high-quality standalone analytics services that are often overlooked, but they can take data analysis to a new level. We conducted our own small research on the latest trends and identified the TOP-5 services that will be relevant in 2024 for web analytics.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Undoubtedly, a leader in usage among web professionals. It boasts a wide range of analytical tools and holds a prominent position in the market. Let’s not dwell on it. It is well-known to all of us and undoubtedly deserves to be in the top spot.

Price: Free;

Benefit: Suitable for the majority of users for website analysis, easily integrates with other Google products such as AdWords and AdSense.

Matomo –  Suitable for users who are professionally engaged in analytics and require enhanced attention to data security. The advantage of this service is that it is one of the few platforms with open-source code and is installed on the user’s server, providing a 100% guarantee of the security of your analytical data.

Price: Depends on the number of site views per month; for example, a package for 50,000 views costs $20 per month.

Benefit: Complete security of analytical data and unlimited customization options for the software.

Hotjar – If the aforementioned tools mainly provide answers to questions about the number of users and traffic statistics, this service answers the question of how users behave during their visit to a page. It utilizes heatmaps, session recordings, and collects feedback from users.

Price: Free for up to 35 sessions per day. The cost of a paid subscription starts from $32 per month.

Benefit: Increased conversion and improved usability.

Semrush – The strengths of this product lie in its SEO and SEM tools. Alongside them, there is a range of functionality useful for competitor analysis. In particular, it’s easy to find out the geography and traffic sources of competitors for adjusting your own marketing strategy.

Price: The cost of service packages starts from $99 per month.

Benefit: For businesses that frequently conduct competitor analysis and require additional SEO and SEM information.

Crazy Egg – A tool that allows you to create heatmaps, widely used in A/B testing.

Price: Ranges from $24 per month to $249 per month, depending on the required functionality.

Benefit: Useful for identifying weak points on a website through the creation of heatmaps.

Today, we will delve into one of the best alternatives for studying website usability—Hotjar—since it stands out as one of the top tools in this field.

Hotjar is a powerful online tool designed to enhance conversion rates. Among its most popular features are conversion funnels, user session recordings, and the display of heatmaps.

It also incorporates feedback and analysis tools to help website owners understand which areas of their pages are most clickable and how much time users spend browsing. Given that most users are hesitant to share their own user experiences, Hotjar comes to the rescue by providing insights without the need for cumbersome feedback forms and registrations.

Hotjar truly allows you to understand users without the hassle of filling out extensive feedback forms or going through registration processes.

HOTJAR OVERVIEW: TOP FEATURES

Let’s take a look at what Hotjar has to offer

1. User Session Recordings

The functionality described has gained significant popularity, as Hotjar was one of the first services to offer such capabilities. It records user sessions, allowing website owners to observe the complete interaction with pages. Online business owners get a behind-the-scenes look at how consumers consume content. This is crucial for resolving issues related to the checkout process.

In one case, Hotjar demonstrated how it improved business results for StudentCrowd, an online platform. It was discovered that students, when accessing the online platform, couldn’t find the ‘Submit a Review’ button on their mobile devices. After fixing this bug, the conversion rate for the review page increased by 55%. 

2. Activity Area Diagrams

This function helps track all clicks on the page, providing insights into which sections of the website are the most popular and which ones require attention. In practice, it allows for the placement of Call to Action buttons in the most active areas, positively impacting conversion rates.

An eCommerce case involving the sale of trampolines vividly illustrates the benefits of studying heatmaps. The company introduced a blog to meet the demand for backyard trampoline setups. Analyzing the scroll heatmap, they discovered that the Call to Action button was positioned too low. To address this, they moved the primary CTA button to the top of the page. As a result, the company increased the number of target clicks by 11%.

3. Conversion Funnels

Conversion funnels help us see at which stage our users are dropping off in the process of converting into leads. Hotjar enables us to visually track this.

How do conversion funnels work in practice? 

Netguru, a company gradually increasing website traffic, found that the increased traffic wasn’t translating into the expected conversion rates. Marketing specialists then used Hotjar to gather data.

After several months of addressing identified issues, Netguru was able to:

• To increase the traffic of the ‘Services’ page by 30.93%.
• To increase the traffic of the ‘Career’ page by 58.76%.
• To reduce the bounce rate by 50.45%.
• To increase the number of users in the advertising sales funnel by 17%.

4. Feedback

Using a survey, users can provide insights into why they do or do not engage in desired actions, such as filling out a form or clicking the ‘Purchase’ button. Additionally, there is a feedback request feature that allows users to submit questions in case of issues.

• What is the reason for searching for a product or service?
• Why did you stop using our service or product?
• Why did you make a purchase but not subscribe to our newsletter?
• What could we improve to make the interaction easier?

One of the well-known companies, HubSpot Academy, implemented surveys on their website to understand why users were abandoning the course registration page and how the company’s team responded in such cases. After identifying and addressing the issues, the brand was able to increase registrations by 10%.

5. Attracting Users to Testing

Hotjar enables user engagement in testing. Through the widget, users can perform test tasks and submit information with their results. To stimulate motivation for participation, consider offering incentives such as gift vouchers or discounts on specific products.

6. Form Analysis

Do you know how users fill out forms when purchasing a product? Hotjar helps visualize the interaction with feedback forms. You can identify fields that cause complications and take users a long time to fill out, as well as those that are left blank altogether. You can also see why a user decided to abandon the form. Collectively, this aids in improving form completion rates.

FOR WHOM IS THIS PRODUCT?

As you’ve already gathered, Hotjar has numerous successful use cases across various business types. We recommend considering this product regardless of your niche, traffic volume, or business type. It proves valuable for both seasoned marketers and beginners looking to expand their website monitoring toolkit.

HOTJAR: PRICING AND PLANS OVERVIEW

Another significant advantage of the product over competitors is its pricing. It’s satisfying to receive a combination of three, even four services for just a few dollars. Let’s briefly examine the plans that Hotjar offers.

Basic Plan

The Basic plan is offered for free. We recommend using this plan for those who are just getting acquainted with the product and have low traffic.

Included features:

• 35 daily sessions (each session includes the complete user journey).
• 365 days of data retention.
• Unlimited heatmaps.
• User feedback collection.
• Unlimited information panels.
• Data from Observe & Ask (Visual insights with user feedback).

Plus Plan

Cost – €32 per month. Ideal for those already familiar with the product and looking to gather more precise statistics for targeting.

 

Included features:

• All the functionality of the Basic plan.
• 100 daily sessions (each session includes the complete user journey).
• Events API: track user actions (specific user actions, such as conversions or views of a particular A/B test variant, for more precise targeting).

Business Plan

Cost – €80 per month. Suitable for owners of large online stores and requires substantial marketing knowledge.

Included features:

• All the functionality of the Plus Plan.
• 500 daily sessions (each session includes the complete user journey).
• Data filtering and segmentation.
• Filtering for frustration signals (angry clicks or abrupt form closures).
• Identification API: tracking custom user attributes (user_ID, email, or last_purchase_date).
• Traffic channel filter.
• Engagement Zones in Heatmaps (overlay layouts on heatmaps to enhance user interaction).
• Frustration Indicators (identifying what frustrates users).

Scale Plan

Cost – €171 per month. Suitable for marketing professionals and marketing agencies.

Included features:

• All the functionality of the Business Plan;
• Analytics filtering for forms and entered text (session filtering based on abandoned and submitted forms, as well as text entered by users in forms or search panels);
• Funnels (measure conversion rates and understand why users are dropping off from completing a target action);
• Trends (explore and understand your metrics, identify user behavior trends);
• Special diagrams;
• Console’s Top Errors Table (track the most common JavaScript errors on your site).

To use Hotjar services, please follow the link provided Get started with Hotjar

CHOOSE IM4U FOR COMPREHENSIVE WEBSITE USABILITY ANALYSIS

In the article, we’ve explored several convenient services for website usability analysis. However, currently, no single software application can conduct a comprehensive analysis like our team of specialists. We recommend reaching out to our experts today and receiving a Free SEO audit.